In a recent game of Words with Friends I found myself with only one consonant and six vowels.
This selection of letters made it hard to play my turn.
But then I realised that I had just the right combination of vowels to make the word 'queue'.
So I played and managed a decent score with the 'Q' on a a tile which doubled its value.
I'm amazed that I didn't see 'queue' instantly because it is a very current word and there are lots of queues in the news these days.
Years ago I published an article in which I used the image of the queue to illustrate a thesis about the rise of unemployment.
I described a queue stretching across history as the poorest in society struggled to make ends meet relying as they always had on the 'dole'.
The dictionary defines a 'dole queue' as 'the number of unemployed people at a particular time'.
In the UK today that queue is made up of 6.4% of the population or 1. 01M people.
There was much made of the recent fall in this number, by 33, 600, as evidence of the success of Government policies.
Meaning that the economy has recovered to its 2008 levels after six years of austerity and whilst the left hand has been busy cutting jobs in the public sector the right hand has been congratulating the private sector who have been equally busy cutting wages.
So in today's big society the unemployed are being invited to leave the dole queue in order to earn their poverty or become self employed.
But as one queue shortens another becomes longer.
The number of people who are in work but are still claiming Housing Benefit or have found that they now need to claim is growing, the queue is getting longer.
Sure the queue at the Job Centre door marked employment is shorter but the queue at the door marked help with housing is longer and just down the street at the Church Hall the queue at the door marked Food Bank is getting longer too, according to one report, up to three times longer.
Queues have always seemed to be a sign or reflection of either popularity or distress.
Queues were a feature of wartime rationing, of shortages and need.
But equally they might just hint at popularity, the queue for the latest block buster or popular night spot might stretch round the block and people will try to find ways of jumping the queue, using charm or luck or cheek or connections to get to the front so as not to miss out on either their entertainment or perhaps, if its that kind of queue, to grab a bargain in the sales.
Buying tickets on line or using telephone banking you might find a serene and charming, but disembodied voice advising you of your position in the queue, as it counts you down from fifth to second when one of our advisers, all of whom are busy with other customers, will become available to speak to you.
But the queue as defined and supervised by Mr Duncan-Smith and his department is for some people about as close as it is possible to come to a dystopian, Kaflaesque nightmare as is evidenced by the stories which emerge of the sheer human distress arising when people find themselves in a queue to have their disability assessed by ATOS or their accommodation assessed to ensure that they only have the correct (and allowable) number of rooms.
Well I managed to play the word queue with my selection of letters, how will you do with these?
igucarnn
ieadnsmpirte
arcgit
eeamnngdi
ygsooncciebit
This selection of letters made it hard to play my turn.
But then I realised that I had just the right combination of vowels to make the word 'queue'.
So I played and managed a decent score with the 'Q' on a a tile which doubled its value.
I'm amazed that I didn't see 'queue' instantly because it is a very current word and there are lots of queues in the news these days.
Years ago I published an article in which I used the image of the queue to illustrate a thesis about the rise of unemployment.
I described a queue stretching across history as the poorest in society struggled to make ends meet relying as they always had on the 'dole'.
The dictionary defines a 'dole queue' as 'the number of unemployed people at a particular time'.
In the UK today that queue is made up of 6.4% of the population or 1. 01M people.
There was much made of the recent fall in this number, by 33, 600, as evidence of the success of Government policies.
Meaning that the economy has recovered to its 2008 levels after six years of austerity and whilst the left hand has been busy cutting jobs in the public sector the right hand has been congratulating the private sector who have been equally busy cutting wages.
So in today's big society the unemployed are being invited to leave the dole queue in order to earn their poverty or become self employed.
But as one queue shortens another becomes longer.
The number of people who are in work but are still claiming Housing Benefit or have found that they now need to claim is growing, the queue is getting longer.
Sure the queue at the Job Centre door marked employment is shorter but the queue at the door marked help with housing is longer and just down the street at the Church Hall the queue at the door marked Food Bank is getting longer too, according to one report, up to three times longer.
Queues have always seemed to be a sign or reflection of either popularity or distress.
Queues were a feature of wartime rationing, of shortages and need.
But equally they might just hint at popularity, the queue for the latest block buster or popular night spot might stretch round the block and people will try to find ways of jumping the queue, using charm or luck or cheek or connections to get to the front so as not to miss out on either their entertainment or perhaps, if its that kind of queue, to grab a bargain in the sales.
Buying tickets on line or using telephone banking you might find a serene and charming, but disembodied voice advising you of your position in the queue, as it counts you down from fifth to second when one of our advisers, all of whom are busy with other customers, will become available to speak to you.
But the queue as defined and supervised by Mr Duncan-Smith and his department is for some people about as close as it is possible to come to a dystopian, Kaflaesque nightmare as is evidenced by the stories which emerge of the sheer human distress arising when people find themselves in a queue to have their disability assessed by ATOS or their accommodation assessed to ensure that they only have the correct (and allowable) number of rooms.
Well I managed to play the word queue with my selection of letters, how will you do with these?
igucarnn
ieadnsmpirte
arcgit
eeamnngdi
ygsooncciebit
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